Mid-Pliocene Asian monsoon intensification and the onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciation Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • The late Pliocene onset of major Northern Hemisphere glaciation (NHG) is one of the most important steps in the Cenozoic global cooling. Although most attempts have been focused on high-latitude climate feedbacks, no consensus has been reached in explaining the forcing mechanism of this dramatic climate change. Here we present a key low-latitude climate record, the high-resolution Asian monsoon precipitation variability for the past five million years, reconstructed from South China Sea sediments. Our results, with supporting evidence from other records, indicate significant mid-Pliocene Asian monsoon intensification, preceding the initiation of NHG at ca. 2.7 Ma ago. This 1.4-million-year-long monsoon intensification probably enhanced monsoon-induced Asian continental erosion and chemical weathering and in the process left fingerprints in marine calcium isotopes. Furthermore, increased rock weathering and/or organic carbon burial probably lowered the contemporary atmospheric CO2 and may have triggered the NHG onset. 2009 Geological Society of America.

published proceedings

  • GEOLOGY

altmetric score

  • 6.544

author list (cited authors)

  • Zhang, Y. G., Ji, J., Balsam, W., Liu, L., & Chen, J.

citation count

  • 72

complete list of authors

  • Zhang, Yi Ge||Ji, Junfeng||Balsam, William||Liu, Lianwen||Chen, Jun

publication date

  • July 2009